Saint Joan of Arc

This is the story of a young girl who died when she was nineteen. She was no beauty and no scholar. She could neither read nor write. She came from the obscurity of a small, remote hamlet and in less than fifteen months had crowned a king, set in motion events that were to save her country from foreign domination, defeated the forces of a great nation, and changed the history of Western Europe. She was burned to death as a heretic. Nearly five hundred years later she was canonized and became the patron saint of the country she saved. It is one of the most astonishing stories in history. This is an attempt to tell it simply but accurately and to peel away the smothering husk in which some historians have enclosed it. It is a task I have enjoyed and I hope that what I have done will enable others to feel the magic of those far-off summer days when this young girl, astride her charger, rode conquering through the fields and woods of France. But it is far more than the story of a conquest, far more than a medieval pageant. It is the story of a great saint - Joan of Arc.

St. Joan Of Arc

Profile One of five children born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romee. Shepherdess. Mystic. From age 13 she received visions from Saint Margaret of Antioch, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and Michael the Archangel.

In the early 15th century, England, in alliance with Burgundy, controlled most of what is modern France. In May 1428 Joan's visions told her to find the true king of France and help him reclaim his throne. She resisted for more than three years, but finally went to Charles VII in Chinon and told him of her visions. Carrying a banner that read "Jesus, Mary", she led troops from one battle to another. She was severely wounded, but her victories from 23 February 1429 to 23 May 1430 brought Charles VII to the throne. Captured by the Burgundians during the defence of Compiegne, she was sold to the English for 10 thousand francs. She was put on trial by an ecclesiastical court conducted by Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, a supporter of England, and was excuted as a heretic. In 1456 her case was re-tried, and Joan was acquitted (23 years too late).

"About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter." - Saint Joan of Arc, as recorded at her trial